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Nearly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) are taking strike action at ports along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, as they push for wage increases that exceed those offered by the United States Maritime Alliance, the port operators group. The effects are expected to ripple through the U.S., costing the economy $4.5bn-$7.5bn for every week it continues, according to Oxford Economics. GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders said the strike action will push up costs for retailers and, consequently, consumers, and that it could lead to product shortages at a busy time of the year "when there is not much slack in the system." He added: "Many retailers have made plans to mitigate strike action, including rerouting products to West Coast ports and using air freight. However, retailers can’t do this for every product and utilizing these options still costs them more money, so it is only a partial solution at best." The White House said in a statement Monday that administration officials had met with both sides and had been “working around-the-clock” over the weekend to avert a strike. There are no plans at present to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, a near-80-year-old law that could be used to force the dockworkers back to work.

 

CNN

New York Times

Washington Post

Daily Mail

The CVS Health board is conducting a strategic review of options for the company, including a possible breakup of the firm's retail and insurance businesses. The review comes amid CVS' struggles to realize the promise of its efforts to build a healthcare conglomerate spanning major sectors of the industry. On Monday, hedge fund Glenview Capital Management, which holds a 1% stake in the firm, met with CVS to discuss ways to improve operations. "CVS’s management team and Board of Directors are continually exploring ways to create shareholder value", a spokesperson said. "We remain focused on driving performance and delivering high quality healthcare products and services enabled by our unmatched scale and integrated model".

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

EY’s financial services boss Anna Anthony has been appointed as its new U.K. managing partner, becoming the first woman to permanently run a Big Four operation in the U.K. She succeeds Hywel Ball, who has led the firm since 2020. "I am incredibly proud to be taking on this role," Anthony stated, reflecting on her 20-year journey with the firm. Ball praised her as an "exceptional leader," confident that she will continue to drive sustainable growth.  

 

Financial Times

The Times of London

Charles Schwab has named president Rick Wurster as its new chief executive, succeeding Walt Bettinger, who will continue with the company as executive co-chairman alongside namesake founder Charles “Chuck” R. Schwab. Schwab earlier this year named former Citigroup treasurer Mike Verdeschi as chief financial officer, succeeding Peter Crawford.

 

CNBC	Wall Street Journal

The Associated Press speaks with Dale Whelehan, CEO of 4 Day Week Global, which coaches companies through the months-long process of shortening their employees’ work hours, about the reasons why organizations might want to let staff work four days a week to reduce job burnout and retain talent seeking a better work-life balance. He says the trend is gaining popularity in Australia and Europe, and Japan launched a campaign in August encouraging local employers to reduce their work schedules to four days. American companies haven’t adopted four-day weeks as broadly, but that could change, Whelehan says. Whelehan talks about why organizations should switch to a four-day workweek,  the enduring prevalence of the 40-hour workweek, how companies can increase revenue while employees work fewer hours, how a four-day workweek can support equity, and what kinds of work could potentially be dropped to increase productivity.

 

AP News

Unilever chief executive Hein Schumacher said Monday that the company is working on sustainability deals with its top 10 retail customers, including Walmart, aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing waste in its supply chain. "What's new and what's coming, and what I expect a lot from in the years to come, is (our) collaboration on sustainability agreements with (retail) customers," he said at the Reuters IMPACT conference in London. "We have a sustainability collaboration agreement . . . with Walmart, for example . . . (The agreement) is about greenhouse gas emission reduction, and we are their scope three." Scope 3 emissions are those a company is indirectly responsible for across its supply and distribution chain, according to a classification development by non-profit thinktank the World Resources Institute. A company's in-house operations and energy use make up what is called Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

 

Reuters

The Chicago Business Barometer, a gauge of business activity also known as the Chicago PMI, rose to 46.6 in September from 46.1 in August, below the 50-mark separating expansion from contraction. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had expected a reading of 45.3. The MNI Indicators-produced measure has remained in contractionary territory for 24 of the past 25 months. The order backlogs index increased by 5.3 points but remains below the 2024 high in June, while the employment index climbed by 5.0 points after two consecutive months of decline. While the supplier deliveries index slid by 4.9 points after four straight months of increases, the new orders and production indexes both dipped by 1.1 points.

 

Market Watch

RTT News

Americans’ reliance on government support is soaring, driven by programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, according to the Economic Innovation Group (EIG), a bipartisan think tank. By 2022, 53% of U.S. counties drew at least a quarter of their income from government aid. For its analysis of government spending, EIG used a government definition of income that includes spending on programs that Americans pay into, such as Medicare and Social Security. The analysis also includes unemployment insurance, food stamps, the earned income tax credit, veterans benefits, Pell grants, COVID-era payments and other income support. States help pay for some of these programs, such as Medicaid, but the federal government covers roughly 70% of the total cost. Reasons for the growth include America's aging population, rising healthcare costs, and economic decline due to factory losses.

 

Wall Street Journal

The U.S. trade deficit in goods narrowed 8.3% to $94.3bn in August, according to the Commerce Department’s advanced estimate released Friday, the smallest trade gap since March. Imports stood at $271.3bn, down $4.5bn from the previous month, while exports rose $4.1bn to $177bn.

 

Market Watch

SoftBank's Vision Fund is set to invest $500m in OpenAI's latest funding round. This investment comes as OpenAI seeks to raise $6.5bn through convertible notes, valuing the AI start-up at $150bn prior to SoftBank's involvement. The deal marks SoftBank's first investment in OpenAI, led by Sam Altman. However, the valuation hinges on OpenAI's ability to restructure its corporate framework and eliminate the profit cap for investors. 

 

The Information

The Wall Street Journal reports that PepsiCo is in advanced talks to acquire Texas-based tortilla-chip maker Siete Foods from the Garza family for more than $1bn. Siete is known for its Mexican-inspired products including tortilla chips, soft tortillas, jarred enchilada mix and dairy-free queso dips. More recently, the company has branched out with a slew of newer products including cookies and potato chips. Its distribution has also expanded in recent months to include Target and Kroger grocery stores. 

 

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

Houston city controller Chris Hollins writes in the Houston Chronicle on the challenges stemming from state anti-ESG laws that bar the city from doing business with major investment firms like BlackRock and UBS - and leave it "forced to choose from a shrinking list of financial institutions that have avoided getting banned," often securing a worse deal for taxpayers in the process. "The anti-ESG crusade", he writes, "even harms our public schools and teachers. Citing ESG policies, Aaron Kinsey, chairman of the State Board of Education, pulled $8.5bn that BlackRock had been managing for the Texas Permanent School Fund — even though money under BlackRock's management had consistently outperformed the school fund year over year, and it was hard to see how the school fund could find another manager able to match BlackRock's performance. Similarly, Texas' teacher retirement fund has divested from companies on the comptroller's list, including Black Rock."

 

Houston Chronicle

Tax professionals are advocating for a significant update to the IRS guidance on advance pricing agreements (APAs) to enhance flexibility and certainty for taxpayers. Since the last guidance in 2015, the tax landscape has evolved dramatically, prompting practitioners to highlight various issues, including the global tax deal. They are particularly calling for improved clarity in APAs and mutual agreement procedures.

 

Bloomberg Tax